8 
It must, however, strike you obviously, as of no inconsider¬ 
able moment, that an organised body should exist, round 
which those ardent in the pursuit of science, and zealous in 
unfolding its enlarged adaptation to the peculiar wants of 
this country, should be able to group themselves ; in which 
they could see the steadfast countenance of recognised autho- 
^ rity; in the archives of which they could find the large stores 
which sagacity and unwearied diligence have laid up in hours 
saved from tedious indolence or snatched from profitless self- 
indulgence to quicken intelligence, and incite to that ambition 
which extorts praise: and where they may encounter that 
variety which will afford a chord on which each distinctive 
mind may strike its ample tone ; lend a completeness to the 
full tliapason, and thereby enliven and relieve the exact and 
monotonous uniformity. 
One solid advantage to be reaped, were that the only one, 
is that by the practice of originjil investigation the intellect 
will become fertilised; and as by ploughing and harrouang the 
soil new elements of vegetation and reproduction arc brought 
to the surface, such exercises will embue the mind with an 
elasticity and a capacity for analysis and induction, enlarged 
as occasion presents new objects vdth which it is called on to 
grapple. 
Tliis is by no means an unimportant consideration, while 
the printing press is daily sending forth works written with 
the fascination of what is termed a popular style, introducing 
every species of scientific question, stripped of all severity of 
demonstration. When readers once acquire a habit of peru¬ 
sing such works hastily and -without method, indiscrimi¬ 
nately and without reflection, or the necessity for mental 
exertion, they become prone to lean on the memory rather 
than to rely on the understanding, thereby underrating and 
necessarily impairing the higher powers of reason. Those 
who are satisfied with a medium so acceptable to the indolent 
may be displeased with what they may deem a depreciating 
allusion to such books. It is not my desire ^to undervalue, 
but to stamp a right value upon them. Many of them are of 
considerable merit, and the authors of them have distributed 
much useful instruction in quarters to which it had never 
